Unofficial Portkey Archive

Chapter 2: The Sorting

The trio stood quietly on the platform, waiting for some instruction on what to do next. Older students pushed back and forth, greeting old friends, looking for their pets, and generally making a loud ruckus. Lily heard someone calling "Firs years! Firs years, over here!" off to her right, and turned to see where it was coming from. She jumped a little in surprise. The man calling for the 'firs years' was so large that he could hardly be called a man at all, in fact, by the looks of him, he could only be a-

"Giant? No, I don't think so," Lily heard a rather frail-looking boy say to the girl standing next to him. "He isn't tall enough, is he? I think most giants are at least 16 feet tall. Maybe he's half and half." The boy shrugged as though this made very little difference to him. Lily shook her head. It was going to take her some time to get used to this. If this man wouldn't be considered a giant, then she shuddered to think what might. He was simply enormous, with a scraggly brown beard, and a messy tangle of hair. He smiled down at the students now congregating at his feet (most of them only came up to his kneecaps), but it didn't do much to soften his wild appearance.

"Well," she said with as much bravery as she could muster (which did not seem to Lily like very much at all), "I guess that's us. Come on!"

The trio made their way over to the enormous man, who was now looking around to make sure he had everyone. When he seemed satisfied, he called out "Follow me!" and led the way down a very dark and steep path. All of a sudden, the path leveled out in front of them, and they could see the moonlight shining brightly on a very large lake.

"Look there it is!" someone near the front squealed.

Lily looked up and saw a giant castle with many turrets and towers perched on a cliff atop a very tall mountain. The giant-man turned around and surveyed the crowd in front of him. "Me name's Rubeus Hagrid. I'm keeper of the keys and grounds at Hogwarts, which yeh'll be able to see right across the lake there. We'll be crossing over to the castle in the boats here, so everyone hop in, four to a boat. Mind ya don't fall in the lake, now," the giant-man, Hagrid, added as an overly enthusiastic first year nearly slipped into the water while climbing aboard.

Lily, Amelia and Alice hurried over to the nearest boat and climbed in carefully, taking care not to let their robes drop in the water. They looked up as a pale-faced, hook-nosed boy came over. "Anyone sitting there?" he asked the three girls, somewhat abruptly.

"No," Lily replied. "You're welcome to join us. I'm Lily, Lily Evans," Lily continued, when the boy made no response. "This is Alice Parker, and that's Amelia Bones."

"I know of your family, of course," the boy said to Amelia, "and yours." He nodded at Alice with what Lily thought was a look of disdain upon his face. He then looked appraisingly at Lily. "But I'm afraid that your surname doesn't sound familiar. I'm Severus Snape."

But he didn't hold out his hand for them to shake, and from the way that he hunched up in the corner of the boat, Lily was sure that he wasn't interested in learning anything more about her, or her family. She turned away from him to face Amelia and Alice, who were sitting across from her.

"All right, everyone in? Right then-FORWARD!" Hagrid shouted, and the boats began to move. Severus continued to sit almost sullenly in his corner of the boat, and the girls chatted nervously. Their conversation fell of as they approached the castle. Hagrid directed them all to duck as they approached the cliff on which Hogwarts was perched. They glided through a curtain of ivy concealing an opening in the side of the cliff, and pulled up onto a rocky shore within the cliff.

Once everyone had gotten out of the boats and on to dry land, Hagrid led them through a passageway in the rock, across a small patch of grass, and up a flight of smooth stone steps to the castle. He knocked three times on the huge oak door, which swung open to reveal a tall, very stern looking witch dressed in green robes. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.

The witch surveyed the group of students standing in front of her with a critical eye, and thanked Hagrid for his assistance. After Hagrid had departed, she led the first years inside a huge stone entrance hall lit by torches. The thought that generations of Hogwarts first years had stood in this very entrance hall before her, all awaiting the task that would determine to which house they belonged, made Lily feel a little better. Before she had time to whisper that thought to Alice, who was looking more and more nervous as time went on, Professor McGonagall began to speak. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said in a no-nonsense voice that made Lily quickly realize that she would not want to cross this professor. "We will begin the sorting ceremony shortly, which will be immediately followed by the start-of-term banquet."

Professor McGonagall, launched into an explanation about the different houses, and the house cup, and Lily began to look around, surveying her fellow students with interest. She noticed that the greasy-haired boy who had joined them in the boat was now standing with a large boy who strongly resembled a gorilla, and a third boy with brown hair, narrow eyes and a nasty sneer on his face. James and the dark-haired boy who had greeted him on the platform were standing with another, smaller boy who had a very pointed nose and rather watery eyes, and the frail boy with light brown hair who had explained that Hagrid was not a giant. Lily turned her attention back to Professor McGonagall, who was in the process of warning the students that any rule-breaking would cost their house points, and probably earn them the wrath of fellow-students. At this, Lily again glanced over at James and his friend. Although they were both standing there quietly at the moment, she was nearly certain that they had already planned a variety of rule-breaking escapades that would no doubt cost their house plenty of points. She sniffed, and hoped intensely that they were not in the same house as she was. She couldn't see how a house with those two troublemakers in it would ever win the house cup!

Professor McGonagall finished her speech, and directed the students to form a line. Lily found herself next to the light-haired boy who had been standing with James. As Professor McGonagall proceeded to lead them through a pair of double doors, Lily's nerves got the better of her. "I hear they make you wrestle a werewolf, but that couldn't be right, could it?" she whispered to the boy. "I mean, there's not even a full-moon tonight!"

The boy smiled at Lily wryly, with a glimmer in his eye that made her think that what she had just said had struck him as extremely amusing. "I wouldn't worry about it," he replied calmly. "No werewolves tonight. Trolls, maybe…"

A troll? Lily thought desperately, as she made her way into a magnificent hall that, had she not been trying so hard to remember whether trolls were dangerous or not, she might have realized was the Great Hall that she had recently read about in Hogwarts, A History. "But I'm a muggle-born," she muttered to no one in particular. The other students around her were also looking quite nervous by now. "Oh, this is too much, trolls…werewolves…I don't know any magic! It can't be, it just can't…"

As they approached the front of the hall, she soon realized that there was no troll, werewolf, or other creature that appeared to be threatening. All that she could make out was a very old, torn wizard's hat sitting on a stool. Before she could work out what, exactly, they were meant to do with the hat (perhaps we have to make it float? She thought wildly, thinking that she might at least be able to manage that. She had caused a desk to float once, after all), the rip on the front of it opened wide, and the hat began to sing.

"Welcome all you first years!
Come have a look at me.
I bet that you're all wondering
Just what I might be.

But never fear, I'll find the place
For you to call your home
And within each house I know are friends
That you can call your own!"

Lily clapped along with the rest of the students as the sorting hat finished its song. So all she'd have to do was try on a hat! She sighed in relief. "I don't know what I was thinking! Like they'd allow werewolves in a school!" she exclaimed to the boy standing next to her. Again he gave her a look of what Lily would have sworn was amusement, but this time he made no comment.

"Andrews, Evan" Professor McGonagall called out. A tall boy put on the hat and sat down on the stool for a moment before the sorting hat called out "Ravenclaw". The table Lily guessed to be Ravenclaw's erupted in cheering, and Andrews, Evan, ran over to sit down. "Appleton, Carl" was next, and the hat took some time before deciding that he belonged in Hufflepuff. "Black, Bellatrix" became the first Slytherin, to a loud chorus of boos from the Gryffindor table. Next up was "Black, Sirius," and the dark-haired boy who had been involved in the dung-bomb throwing contest made his way to the front looking quite confident. "Gryffindor" the hat quickly declared. The Gryffindor table clapped loudly, and Sirius ran off to join them.

Professor McGonagall called Amelia's name next. Amelia had been standing behind Lily, and as she walked by, Lily heard her muttering, "I'm brave. I'm a Gryffindor. I'm brave, I'm a Gryffindor". The hat took quite awhile deciding where to put Amelia, but finally called out "Gryffindor!" quite loudly. Amelia, headed toward the Hufflepuff table, seeminglyautomatically, and looked a little dazed when she realized it was Gryffindor cheering. She changed course and found a seat just down from Sirius Black, who leaned over and said something to her.

"Crabbe, William" and "Curtis, Nerissa" both were declared Slytherins. As Professor McGonagall worked steadily toward the Es, Lily began to feel nervousness welling up inside of her. When she got to "Evans, Lily" she took a deep breath and walked to the front, trying not to notice all of the eyes staring up at her from the tables. She put the hat on and the same voice that had sung the song at the start of the ceremony began speaking in her ears.

"An Evans. I haven't sorted any Evanses before. Let's see. My, you are a smart girl, I can see that. Ravenclaw, perhaps, but let's see what else is here. Are you brave? Yes, yes. Anyone who knows you knows that. But you don't take foolish risks, do you, girl? Well, that does it. It seems that your will is strong and your heart is pure, so better be GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted out the house for the hall to hear.

Once Lily had sat down, she turned to watch the rest of the sorting. "Finch, Rowena" became a Hufflepuff, followed by "Fletchley, Jonathon". "Goyle, Gregory" became a Slytherin. "Johnson, Desdamona", a very pretty black girl that she had noticed on the platform when they'd arrived, became a Gryffindor while "Lestrange, Rudolphus", the narrow-eyed boy standing beside Severus in the entrance hall, became a Slytherin. "Longbottom, Frank", a tall, blond-haired boy, and "Lupin, Remus", the boy who had reassured her that they wouldn't be facing werewolves, both subsequently became Gryffindors and also sat down beside them at the table. A few more names were called, and then "Parker, Alice". Both Lily and Amelia, who had been chatting quietly, turned to watch Alice's sorting. She looked quite confident as she picked up the hat, which took no time to decide that she was a Gryffindor. Lily and Amelia both cheered wildly, and Lily found that she was very glad indeed that both friends that she'd made on the train were in the same house with her.

"Perkins, Claudius" ("Ravenclaw!") followed Alice, then "Pettigrew, Peter" (she cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindors), and "Potter, James". Lily noticed that Sirius had stopped talking to Remus Lupin, and was saying "Come on, Jamesy, Gryffindor, Gryffindor, think Gryffindor, Jamesy, Gryffindor…" under his breath. It wasn't long before Sirius got his wish, and James Potter came bounding over to the table. "Come on, budge up. Make room for James," Black said, shooing Alice, Lily and Amelia further down the table. They scooted over to make room as Sirius slapped James on the back with a hardy, "I knew you'd be in Gryffindor."

"It was you I was worried about, mate," Potter replied. "I noticed your cousin went to Slytherin."

"Yeah," Black said, wrinkling his nose, "but there was no chance I was going there. I'd have left school first."

Lily wondered how Gryffindor had any chance at the house cup now that James had joined Sirius at their table, and she turned away from the two friends with annoyance. The sorting continued until at last, "Willamson, Phillip" was sent to Ravenclaw. An older wizard with long, flowing silver hair, a long crooked nose, and sparkling eyes that Lily assumed to be Professor Dumbledore, the school headmaster, stood up to speak.

"Welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts. I have a speech prepared, but I am wise enough to know that nobody wants to listen to what I have to say right now, so enjoy your meal!"

With Professor Dumbledore's words, a variety of all of Lily's favorite dishes appeared on the platters in front of her. The remainder of the evening passed quickly, and Lily found herself content and full, and very ready to crawl into her new bed in Gryffindor's dormitories. Professor Dumbledore went through a few school rules (Lily huffed again in annoyance when she noticed Potter and Black looking at each other mischievously when he warned them about the Forbidden Forest), and then dismissed them for the evening. The girl who had told them to get dressed when they were on the train, and another boy that Lily recognized as the bored teenager who had been standing with Alice's Dad ("Joshua McKinnon" Alice informed them) led them out of the Great Hall to their dormitories.

Lily was so tired at this point that she could barely be surprised that the portraits were pointing and talking to one another. They arrived at last in front of a portrait of a fat lady dressed in pink, and Lily just had time to wonder what a portrait had to do with their dormitory when Joshua McKinnon turned around to address the new students. "This is the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Through the portrait you will find the house common room, and two sets of staircases. The staircase on the right leads to the boys' rooms and the staircase on the left, to the girls. Boys are not permitted in the girls dormitories, and girls are not permitted in the boys."

Lily heard Potter and Black laughing, and decided that they were no doubt planning to break into the girls' dormitories and cause trouble. She didn't know either one of them very well, but was already nearly certain that she didn't like them. They seemed not to take anything seriously! The girl standing next to Joshua introduced herself as Andromeda Black. "I didn't know your cousin Andy was a Gryffindor," Lily heard Potter whisper to Black.

Black nodded glumly. "Mum hardly speaks to her anymore. I don't know what she'll do when she finds out I'm a Gryffindor, too."

The boy named Remus Lupin shushed them both as Andromeda was explaining that the password to get in was "Aprasi". The portrait opened, revealing an opening that they promptly crawled through. The girls headed up the stairway to their left, climbing until they found a door with a sign hanging on it that said "Gryffindor first years" with all of their names listed. Lily was quite excited to find out that she would be sharing a room with Alice and Amelia. They were soon joined by the black girl named Desdamona Johnson, and a freckle-faced red-head named Kaylie Lynch.

The girls were so tired that they hardly spoke as they changed for bed. Lily collapsed into her four-poster, closed the curtains around her, and thought how unbelievable it was that just this morning she was comforting her sister in her bedroom back home.